Claimed By Fire
by beachchick3
Summary: Left to die as a babe, she is saved by a Wilding Woman. Claimed by Fire and an outsider to her people, she has much to learn. Despite that she is born with the power to change the future of Westeros forever, it is a pity she will never reach her twentieth nameday. Power is a fickle thing. [Rhaegar Targaryen/OC]Wildlings
1. Frozen Fire

**DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS WRITTEN FOR PURE JOY, AND ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED TO GEORGE R.R. MARTIN. The world as well as the characters of the series A song of ice and fire belong to him, and only him. Though my OC - Minisa, and other OC's do belong to me, and cannot be used in any other fanfic unless it is okay by me. THIS WILL NOT BE REPEATED WITH EVERY CHAPTER FOR THE DISCLAIMER ENTAILS THIS FANFIC IN IT'S ENTIRETY. **

**Hello sorry for the wait.**

**This idea came to me in a dream, and now I finally have enough ideas to make it acceptable as a fanfic.**

**This is primarily a Rhaegar/OC, and will circle around my character named Minisa.**

**Here is the Prologue! Enjoy**

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Frozen Fire

I have a flaming will, and it is burning with frozen fire.

My heart is ready to beat right out of my chest. If I run any faster than I would be flying. The dream is always the same. I am in a blizzard of ice and snow, my fingers and toes are ready to fall off, but I don't stop running. I don't stop running until I see the mountain of ice that I must get to, and I keep on running now that I have a destination. The mountain of ice expands for miles and miles left to right, but I don't have time to stand in awe. I have no time at all.

All I know is I have to get there fast because something horrible is about to happen.

I blow fire into my palms, but I feel weaker than ever before. The flames do not come forth, and I am forced to pick up the pace.

Winter winds bash both of my sides tossing me around like a frozen rag. My heart is beating faster and faster with every step I take. My lethargic legs plow against the knee depth snow. My eyes get dizzy with the exertion.

I can't stop running, and I don't know why. I slip and fall face forward into the snowy ground. I scrape my arms and hands against a boulder. I failed to spot the boulder because it was invisible to the naked eye; covered in a layer of blistering snow. My hands are scratched and blistered, but I don't stop. The blizzard picks up and now I can see nothing in this white otherworld. Everywhere there is falling snow.

I shiver in fear imaging the cold swallowing me whole. Now I am more frightened than ever before, and almost forget that this is a dream. It feels too surreal. I must not believe my imagination. I must not believe. I cannot fail. I am running blindly in the snow searching for the giant forged ice wall I will never find.

I am still sprinting, until I spot a figure coming closer in the blizzard. I catch my breath and breathe in snow which brings on a fit of coughing. I strain my eyes to look up again.

It is a man, but my mind tells me it is something far worse. He comes closer and closer and my heart constricts because I recognize the man. He has a handsome face, his face clean shaven, and I know he has the most violet eyes. The first violet eyes I ever laid eyes on, and the eyes that would warm even the coldest of blizzards. They were familiar, they were his, and they were mine. The silly memory that they would would burn me with one satisfying look gave me the energy to reach him.

I would gladly burn from his gaze, and get some reprieve in this frozen wasteland. My body shivers when we make eye-contact. When he looks up, they are not violet at all.

No, they are not, and I let out a scream of fear, "NO! This cannot be!"

He has the bluest of eyes.

"Minisa," he gives a throaty mutter. I am terrified, frozen in fear, unable to answer him. It is too late.

He trudges towards me.

"Stay away from me," I shriek.

"Minisa," he says the name I gave him so many years ago. Tears come to my eyes and freeze on my cheeks. I failed.

"I'm warning you," fire erupts from my hand and I bring it over my head in warning, "Do not dare edge any closer, or I will be forced to crisp you."

He doesn't say a word as he lumbers forward. It seems the cold has no effect on him. He hated the cold, and I am sobbing now, "You wouldn't hurt me," but I feel as if I am trying to assure myself.

I am losing my fighting strength, "Please, just go away."

"Minnisssa," he says only a few steps away.

I extinguish the fire, my shoulders slumping in defeat. I can't do it.

Without so much as a warning, both of his fists encircle my neck, and I can't breathe.

"St-o-p!" I can't even say the word, and I bash against his hands trying to burn them off. I am losing oxygen, and fast. My feet leave the ground and my legs flap crazily like a dying fish.

I try pleading with my eyes, but he constricts even tighter chocking me with his cold hands, and burning blue eyes.

He doesn't say anything while I give soundless screams to make him stop. How could he do this? This was not him. We might as well be strangers with the indifference he gives to my pleading eyes.

"Do-nt- Rh-gar!" He doesn't even recognize me. As I dangled there, losing oxygen and consciousness I can't help but remember. Even the cold has a way to make the gentlest souls into frozen beast. A beast shackled to the North. The North does not feel, does not love, and will burn you with frozen fire. It burned me, and I am fire itself.

I should have the power to fight this off. I cannot give up, not when I am so close to saving the souls of millions. Instead my vision blackens, and I no longer feel his hands.

I keep screaming, but no one hears me.

Then

I wake up.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Here is Chapter 1**_

_**I hope you enjoy!**_

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**Chapter 1 **

Woman

I am Female. I am Woman. It is not my name, but before names were necessary, that fact is far more important than what others would call me. For before I was named, I was a woman, before I breathed my first breathe, I was a woman, and before I took my first steps, I was a woman. It is not something that is accomplished, but given, and in my situation something I wish I was never bestowed.

Before I could even accomplish, or show some merit of significance it meant I was weaker, lesser, and unimportant. In my future I would be a stepping stone for men to use for cooking, cleaning, fucking, and shoving around when it came to mealtimes. In the north _you take what you get, and get what you can_. It is a man eats man world, and with the lack of food it as well might be. No words were more true, and I wished it were not so. In my gut I wanted there to be more options, more food, and woman to be equal to men, but even in the free society of the icy tundra, we were unequal.

Though, these things hardly matter when both men and woman freeze from the cold. They freeze if they think themselves strong enough to brave the cold. To stand in the ice until their blood turns sluggish and frozen, and their toes, fingers, and lips turn blue and fall off. Those people are not strong enough for the North. Then there are those that are curious. Some made the wrong decision of wandering too far away from camp. By wandering too far you went to places so deserted a White Walkers could take a bite out of their ass, and no one would be the wiser. There is no room among Wildlings for the feeble, and brainless.

In my clan we do not do such stupid things, we hardly have enough of us for bravery. During the winters the lands of the Frostfangs drop so low even Mean Sam won't stay. Though the Frostfangs are our home we head down the northern ridge, and descend the Giant's Stairs and join with the Rockfist Clan in the valley. We journey where two weirwood trees stand over a valley nestled between the Skirling Pass and the Giant's Stairs. There we stay the whole winter, but their leader is not one of the reasons we trek down the mountain.

Their leader, the Weeper; who weeps when he is fighting, eating, taking a shit, and harassing my older cousin, is one rough son of a bitch. That is what my older brothers call him. A _rough son of a bitch_ with a _goat's beard_ to go with it.

Glori Thunderfist from our clan commented on his tears during meal hour, and had his tongue ripped out. Apparently the Weeper has sensitive eyes, but is not sensitive enough to give two shits about our freezing asses. He kicks us out, and steals our woman so we take the treacherous climb up during the summer so our own is protected from the Weeper's sensitive side.

I love the winters, and living in this icy tundra it says something.

Sure it is freezing, but when is it not? I love the winter time because we put camp in the middle of a larger Rockfist village. By living there it is far warmer, and creates a greater sense of community in our clan. Not to mention all the more children. Some toddling after siblings and others are racing through the skinned tented campsite. We are a horde of disaster throwing rocks, gathering sticks, and having spitting contest. You don't see much children seeing that most children die, before they reach their first nameday. It is a bad omen to name your child before it reaches its first nameday. That is why you give it a milk name in the meantime. Once you are able to hold your own, and fend for yourself your mother names you or if you are willing, you name yourself.

The night-time temperature plummets to dangerous lows during the winter. The cold enters through all the crevices of the skinned tent walls. It's creeping cold claws tearing a way to get through. I nestle into my mother's chest hiding my face where it is the warmest. We have no other choice, but to stay warm despite how difficult it is sometimes.

That is what snuggling up is for, butcheeks to butcheeks, crotch to backside, and arms wrapped around another until space is nonexistent. There is no shyness in the north, and there is no privacy. I bathe in front of another family from the Rockfist Clan, boys my age stare at me from behind their mothers. We share a skinned tent and life together now. Our business is their business and I could care less. I am not worried about them. I am far more concerned with freezing from taking a bath. More people have died taking baths during the winter, than they have from starvation. You have to do it two hours after the sun has risen, or you risk the water freezing as it meets your bare skin.

I do a little warm dance, "it is cold, mama! Aahhh!"

"Quickly," she helps me rub my body, "Quickly, quickly little one," and pours more on my head, making me scream, and giggle while I keep doing the warm dance she taught me.

"You were getting stinky," she threads her hands through my hair, and if I was not bare to the world, and was shivering from toe to head, it would feel wonderful. I lean into her touch rubbing my arms, and raising my knees up one after the other. I was running in one space, but it is doing nothing for the cold. My fingers were already frozen, and I breathe into them.

Mother grabbed my hands, and exhaled deeply releasing warm breathe into my small frozen fingers. I watched her scarred lips give a little kiss there, before she wrapped me up in her arms and lifted me out of the tub. The cold made you very tired, and standing in a pool of frozen water was the worst.

"Lady, pretty lady," a Rockfist girl is tugging on mamma's dress.

"Yes," she patiently smiles at the girl, but is focused on getting me dried.

"Was Stinky her milk name?" asks a girl from the Rockfist clan. She is helping grab my clothes so I can put them back on. Baths only take at the most a minute to two. Any more you are risking getting a cold, or turning into an icicle.

"No," mother grabs our sleeping skins and wipes me off completely, "no, she did not have a baby name."

Mother wipes me everywhere, and I just want her to wrap me up, instead of teasing me with rough rubbing. The outspoken Rockfist girl with brown hair and pretty blue eyes hands me my skinned clothes, and I thank her with a nod of my head. She has been sweet ever since her family let us stay with them a day ago. We need all the help we can get. Mother doesn't have enough skins to make our tent since the last was torn in shreds by cannibals of the north called Thenns.

"But everyone has a milk name," I notice now she is actually younger than seven summers old. She is tall for her age so I must have mistaken her for being my age.

"My baby is special," she finishes buttoning up my skin clothes, and then wraps me with skins. Her tone is loving, "and special babies do not have baby names."

I pull away from the kisses she plants on my cheeks.

"That is unheard of," the girl stares at me as if I am cursed, "it is a bad omen to name the babe before the first year."

"Not everywhere it isn't. In some places the naming ceremony is as huge as weddings, and funerals. They look at the lineage of ages back," my mother has a calming voice, "and name their babes after mighty war heroes, saintly men, and even in some cases names of the Old Gods."

"Do all of their babies die from the cold then?"

"No, it is far hotter in the south," we lay on our skinned floor bed rubbing each other, and the girl joined us, "and many more survive past their first namedays. I once knew a man that was sixty years of age, and he looked as good as the men here that are in their forties. "

She gasped, "Sixty?" I chuckled silently at her expression.

"Yes, the nobility and royalty can live for a long time if they treat their bodies with care. They eat well enough; it is just not eating too much. They at times have to watch how much they eat or else they would all be with bulging stomachs filled with food," my stomach rumbled at the mention of food, "you should see the layers of fat that both men and woman acquire it is positively impossible to become so big, but they do, and they suffer for it." I couldn't imagine what was wrong with eating too much food; if I was there you could not tell me when to stop. I would have gobbled it all up in all ten bites.

My stomach rumbled again.

Mother heard it, "I am sure your brothers will be back with some meat," but her grimace told me otherwise. They were always the last to get their pick. They were only twelve and fourteen summers old, and they only got the scraps to bring back to us. That was unless they snuck into another tent to freeload on stolen animal meat.

"What do they eat?" The other girl asked, and my stomach rumbled again. I wanted to know too, but not when I was so hungry. I had not eaten since yesterday morning, and my throat felt parched because I only had a few sips from the boiling water made last night. The fire went out earlier than usual, and that was used for boiling the water. Mother did not have enough sticks to start another for us, and the girl's father did not want to make another for us. That meant we would go thirsty until today.

My mouth salivated at the mention of water, and food… I rubbed my belly sadly. I wish we didn't need to eat; it would make life so much easier.

Mother licked her chapped lips, "well there is figs, fruits, nuts, and the berries are delicious," she closed her eyes and I missed her seen green eyes, "there are fields and fields of wheat and stalks of grapes as far as the eye can see. Your hands would turn purple," she lifted her hand in the air, "and when you licked them they tasted of sweet wine." Her hands were pale white, but I could imagine them darkened purple like the bruises Baryon and Bane had after roughhousing each other.

"Before the picking begins then you can ride your horse through the stalks. There is enough space in between the vineyards that two horses can run side-along, and they would hold races at sunset to see who would take the horn of feasts at the ends of the games," her stories sounded like dreams.

I had never heard this, "Horn of Feast?" My voice sounded small, and I grimaced at how weak I was beginning to sound.

She rubbed me even harder, "the Horn of Feast is filled with golden coins, and would be filled with grapes, and fruits of all sorts."

The girl's eyebrows rose, "What are fruits?"

Mother wiped something underneath her eye, "they are sweet, and soft…" she thought for a moment, and I didn't blame her. Things like sweet and soft did not exist in the North. I felt sleepy so I closed my eyes trying to fall asleep to her telling stories.

She began comparing it to what we knew, "You know the apples that we get from the Fists of the First Men," my mouth watered at the thought of apples. It had been ages since I had one. I had a piece five months ago, but the taste was just enough to taunt me until I had another inside my mouth to gobble up.

"Well they are like that, though more fleshy. They can be sweet and sour, and they burst in your mouth," the girl moaned at the description, "let's see, there are grapes and they are small little purple ball shaped ones that are both sweet and sour. They were my favorite. There was ummm… bananas, figs, and oranges, they smelled nice, and you could peel off the skin, and the inside would squirt with orange sweetness," There was warmth in her voice, and it made all the thoughts of hunger and freezing be vanquished by her stories of warmth and sweet fruits in vineyards I had no idea looked like.

I was already drifting away, and I think I was ready for my morning nap.

"I want to go to the south. I want to ride in the vineyards, and eat fruits," the girl whined, "life is so unfair."

"It is not as good as you think," mother didn't hide her distaste, "the south has its faults the same as any place you chose to settle for. Though… for raising children the south does have an easier generosity on the young."

_"__What of the south?"_

Mother leaned up, but my eyes were already sealed shut. I was in the space between sleep and awareness.

"Daddy, I want to go to the south!"

"That is out of the question, go join your brothers," I felt the girl leave my side, and the sound of the tent opened and then closed. We three were the only ones in the tent. The girl's siblings and mother had left earlier that morning.

Mother leaned back down to me, "She was curious," mother whispered against my cheek.

"Do not put foolish thoughts into my child's mind," the father said, "you do what you want by your own, and I will do the same with mine. Is that understood?"

"It was just a story," she wiped away a strand of my hair, "it meant no harm by it."

Suddenly her warmth was taken, and I grimaced in my sleep.

Mom squeaked in surprise, "Where is my payment, woman?"

Mother told him to be quiet since I was sleeping, and this only angered him further.

"You told me two days? It has been two days, and I deserve my payment. If I am feeding and protecting your brats as well as you I deserve some **_compensation_**."

She struggled against him, and I tried to fight to get back to consciousness, but I was so tired. My head felt light, and I shivered into my covers.

Mother sounded panicked, "Now, stop this. Stop this right now." She struggled even more, "Let me just"—

"I know what you are, and this should not be so hard for you," his words were muffled.

"Watch your tongue!"

Her voice was pleading, "Are you truly the wilding that people claim you to be? Banred didn't think so, and I agree with my husband. You are a good man, and we are all hurting here. If we can stake this together then we can do something better before our true enemies are those right in front of our eyes."

"You call me your enemy now, let's see what enemies do," there were sucking noises and then a slap.

"How dare you! I will scream!"

"You will not," and mother whimpered again, "If you want to keep living in this here, eating my food, and sleeping in my space, you won't."

"Then we are leaving!"

"I doubt that."

His voice was hard, "No, you will not," mother inhaled, "if you don't do as I say then you are going to have one less child to worry over."

"Wait."

There was the rustle of clothes, "you will not deny me this time."

"Wait," he stopped, "I was not saying no," mother said. I didn't understand what was happening, but it sounded like mom was going to pay for the man to keep us here in his tent longer. I wanted her to do it, so he could leave us alone. All this thinking was giving me a headache.

They stopped struggling, "allow me to wake her."

Someone pushed against my shoulder, "Minisa wake up," I couldn't open my eyes.

"Minisa," mother shook it again, but I couldn't open them. I grew scared. What if I could never open them again? What if they were frozen shut?

"Minisa?"

"Minisa. Mini, my child you must awaken," she grabbed both of my shoulders shaking me, but my head just lolled to the side.

"mini? Mini. MINISA!" Mommy I want to wake up but I can't, why was I so weak. Why couldn't we be stronger and get some more water from another tent, and take what we wanted instead of living off of others. Why? Why was I so hungry?

"MINI WAKE UP!" **_I can't _**I wanted to yell!

"What is going on here," more voices entered the tent, and I felt the consciousness wavering.

Mother was urgent, "Help me," she urged the man, "she needs to wake up."

"The big tent," he snapped, "she needs the witch."

I was lifted from the bed, and then my vision began turning white. In the corner of my eyes there were flecks of reality when I would see my mother's face, and then the cloudy sky above, and then I felt droplets on my face. It was snowing.

"Don't you die on me, Mini. Don't you dare!"

"Is that Mini?" My brothers were here, "MINI! MINI What's wrong?"

My mother's voice was sharp and scared near my ear, "Stay at the tent boys, be mindful to Greja while I am away."

My eyes flickered open at the mention of my brothers. I wanted to prove I was strong, and could withstand anything they could. But I had no idea what was happening to me. I looked around, but I could see only the sky, and the bottom of the man's beard. He was carrying me? Where is mamma?

I pushed my mind to awaken, and get some control. Then the most peculiar thing began to happen, my heart started hurting. I never had my chest hurt before, and it was peculiar to feel it radiate from deep inside my center.

"Mini?"

My eyes flashed open, and my mouth was open.

"Oh thank the Gods," my mouth was itching, and spreading down my arms, legs, all the way to my toes and fingers, "she is awake." Mother was running right next to me her shorter legs trying to keep up with the man's, but she was falling behind.

"I am- it-y," my tongue felt itchy and numb as well. My chest was pounding, and thrumming to the man's steps. The sound mimicked that of the drums during the summer solstice, except this one was less joyous, and more terrifying.

Mother's face mirrored my confusion, her green eyes were red-rimmed and I knew she was going to cry, "I don't understand you. What?" The numbing skyrocketed all across my body, and it was painful. I wanted to scratch, but I couldn't move, speak, or see anything.

It was cold out here, but I sure was not. I was hot, burning, sweating, and was the snow actually sizzling on my skin. What was happening to me? What was happening to my body? I surely had no control over it. So, what did?

"She is sweating, it must be a cold," this didn't feel like a cold.

"We are here," he grunted out. He wasn't even out of breath. I was sure I weighed as much as a bag of sticks, or this case a bag of bones. That was all these past months had rendered me to, a walking bag of bones.

Mother opened the flap, and we entered the big hut. The Weeper's tent. Oh may the Old Gods help us now.

"What is the meaning of this?" The booming voice of the Weeper swept through the three tents connected into one. If I was correct, this was the big tent, and it was much colder in here, than the outside. I was laid on some skins, but I felt suffocated in this tent. I needed more air. I was too hot. Everything I felt was cold to me, even my mother's worried hand on my forehead.

A feminine voice greeted us, "Minisa? Aunty Jen?"

"Davia," mother whispered, "Tell the Weeper that we need the healing woman."

I knew that Davia had moved from our tent, but not into the Weeper's tent. What would Big Sam say to this? Big Sam was our clan leader, and Davia was like a daughter to him.

"The witch is occupied," the Weeper broke in, "and so is my woman so I say you leave before things get a bit more serious."

"She is burning up!"

"Not my problem."

"She is only seven years old. Davia please, she is your little cousin. Have some pity on us."

It was not Davia that responded, "This is not our problem. Send her outside."

"I will not watch my daughter die!"

Mother grabbed me in both of her arms, and I wanted to open my eyes to help her, but I felt so weak. I heard the sound of a staff, and a raspy voice entered the hut, "I was told a child was sent?"

"Yes," my mother spoke loudly before the clan leader could interfere, "my daughter is hot with a cold."

"A fever you say?" Another hand went to my forehead, and my cheek. This one was saggy and clinical as it inspected me.

"How long has she been this way?"

"A few minutes at the most," mother responded.

"Has she shown these hot spells before?"

"No, it came on very quickly practically moments after I bathed her. Do you believe it was the bathing that caused this?"

"We shall see," she touched me all over my body. My skin was wet, but not from the snow, but from my sweat. "She is rising in heat by the moment. This is most peculiar. Child can you speak," I opened my mouth, but my tongue was too numb and hot to do anything.

"Speak child no one will harm you here," I wanted to but I couldn't, "it is clear that see she is fighting it off. She seems aware enough to try to respond."

"She has not eaten for a few days," mother commented.

"It is not hunger that caused this," the witch pulled out some clinking objects and began shaking them over my body, "This is something far more serious."

"What are you saying witch? That the girl that has been staying with my family has something worse than a cold," there was silence, "you will leave my house after this is done."

"I am preoccupied with my child you savage!"

"Do not anger me, you southern whore!

"Be silent Gugthford son of Gobin," the Weeper commanded his clan man, "the witch speaks the truth. I have seen this before. In my travels to the Thenns they spoke of such a man that went into hot spells. Only moments until…" _until what._ **_until what!_** I needed to know what was happening to me.

Gugthford sniffed, "Do you smell that?"

"Just as I presumed," the healing witch said darkly, "and I thought I had seen the last."

"No," mother's voice sounded scared, "this cannot be happening."

"Is she smoking the animal skins?" The Weeper's voice escalated, "get her out of here before she burns the tent down!"

"No, no, my baby Minisa! What have I done?"

"Get her out now!"

I was lifted out of the tent and thrown into the snow. My head banged against the ice hard ground, but I didn't feel any pain. No, I finally felt power in my limbs licking its way to the surface. I inhaled deeply, and my eyes opened for the first time in a while.

It was snowing, but it wouldn't reach my face. I was in the center of the village, people had heard mother screaming at me being thrown, and had come to see what was happening. I stood up shaking, and my clothes, as well as the ground below me started sizzling. It was as if something was starting a fire where I was standing.

Big Sam's red head towered over the crowd and came to meet with the other clan leader, "Rockfist! What are you doing to the girl?"

The Weeper yelled at Big Sam, "You Cavepeople better leave with the girl if you know what's good for you!"

"Look, she is catching aflame," a man yelled.

The crowd shrieked and gasped taking steps away from the danger. It took me moments to understand that the danger was in fact myself, and I was in fact, on fire. I looked down at my arm, and it was on fire. I wacked at it, but it only increased. The flames were stretching up my arm all the way to my neck, and didn't stop there. Long tongues of flanges lapped at my flesh, but it did not burn; only my clothes that darkened and feel like a second layer of skin were the one's affected by the heat.

I screamed, but I felt no pain, "Help me!"

Both clan leaders yelled at the others to stay away. It was frightening to have so many distrustful eyes on you. Is this how our prey felt when it was being hunted? Was I to become the hunted now?

I felt afraid of my people,"HELP ME!"

"I'm coming!" Mother yelled, but was held down by Big Sam, and my two brothers.

Did anyone care? "HELP! HELP I AM BURNING!"

My stare made contact with my mother's crying green eyes, and her defeated head bobbing as her russet hair swayed around her face. "Mini, don't move I am coming!"

"No you're not," Baryon said while tugging on her arm. Bane bawled his eyes out. I saw my brothers that had played with me, slept with me, bathed, and I accepted as my kin and blood, stare at me as if I was the enemy. As if they had no idea who I was.

As if I was an outsider. Now that was painful.

My skin vibrated with warmth. I stepped back and my hand made contact with a tent. My fire spread to the tent, and the inhabits went running out.

"sorry!"

"She burned down my tent," a man yelled.

"**_Sorry!_** I didn't mean to!" My voice was lost to the angry calls for me to leave. Even my own clan was telling me to go. To leave the clan? and go where? There was nothing, but the frozen tundra! I would never survive!

My whole body was aflame now, and I was bare as the day I was born. I was reborn in fire, and it did nothing to stop the tide of shouts that commanded that I leave.

I did the only thing I could do. I made it out of the camp, but I didn't stop there. I could easily harm someone, and they would never accept me now. I ran. I ran into the snow, into the frozen unknown as the tears sizzled on my cheeks.

What was happening to me? What had I become?

**Bane POV**

I had no idea what was happening, and then she started catching on fire. I rubbed my eyes, because I swear they were playing tricks on me. Nope, they weren't. The flames covered her from her head to her toes, and it was enchanting as it was scary. There was so much heat, and so much warmth it was not natural around our frozen home. It was not normal.

Not the way her white hair looked more like a flame and her clothes fell off her skin and laid around burned into the snow. But she didn't burn, and she wasn't screaming in pain. Fire hurt, and she didn't even cry.

Not the way I was. My cheeks were streaming with them, and I wiped them as Baryon caught sight of my face.

My mind couldn't even process this. **_By the Gods,_** My sister was on fire, and then she ran away.

I tried to follow her but, Bary told me to stand down. "What happened to Mini?"

"You take care of mother. Big Sam, and I are going to go after her," Mother was prostrated on the floor weeping, and it made me very uncomfortable to see her this way.

A shadow was cast over us, and it was our bulky clan leader massive with muscle, "I need four men. I will take the Thunderfist brothers, Cravon, and Harvis, we follow the melted snow, and then we round her up. What about you Weeper?"

"What of it?"

"Are you coming?"

He gave an ugly sneer, "You can take care of the fire bitch, all by yourself. She is your clan, your problem," that was expected. Weeper was on mean son of a bitch. Big Sam was already yelling orders, and I watched as Bary went with them. I tried to follow him, because I always did.

"Stay here Bane," he commanded again.

I couldn't be left alone now, "Don't leave me Bary!"

"Stay with me little one," the leathery hand of an elderly woman grabbed my shoulder, "I will watch over you and your mother." The healing Witch was always kind to children, and I bobbed at her authority. My mother lifted her head, and recognized that I was there with her, "Bane? Where is your brother?"

"He went with the search party," mother's face fell.

"He is too young to go out."

"Now," the witch helped mother to her feet, "boys will do what boys will do. He is safe with the men for now. She will not go too far. The sun is at its highest, and nightfall is still hours away. Your children will be safe; the Children of the Wood will protect them."

"I suppose," mother sniffled.

"Well my dear one," she pulled mother along, "we have much to talk of."

"Talk?"

"Yes, of your daughter. She is claimed by fire," the old woman chuckled.

Mother looked furious, "Who do you think you are? You don't even know who she is? She is no one's to claim, she is my daughter, and that is all that matters," mother ushered me along, but the old woman appeared in front of us as we turned. I gasped in surprise.

She tapped her staff on the ground, "Excuse me for saying this, but you are wrong. Something is telling me that you do not know her as well as you think you do," her eyes twinkled with intelligence. I did not trust those eyes.

"What if I told you that we don't care what you have to say? It does not change anything; she is my daughter, and the sister of my sons."

"I would call you a mother, despite how foolish those words are. If you care for your _daughter_ than you will hear what I have to say."

"If you insist," mother grip relaxed on me.

She nudged us into the big tent, "I do, I do, I insist. After all if she is what I believe her to be then you must be prepared. That is if she is more her father's daughter." _She was like Daddy?_ My eyebrows creased, but she did not even resemble father.

The Witch opened the flap, "and that means this is only the beginning."

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**Well there is the first chapter I hope you enjoyed it!**

**The first review gets the next dedication! and I will answer all questions, and don't be shy tell me how you feel!**

**Thank you for your support! I have high hopes for this fanfic. I hope to stay true to characters, and make it as realistic as you can to the Song of Ice and Fire! **

**stay cool during the summer,**

**beachchick3**


	3. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR UPDATE: **

**Hello my viewers here in the next chapter! **

**In this chapter there is alot of information, but it will explain the whole concept of being Claimed by Fire. Well the jist of it. We are going to stay in the North for two more chapters, and then onward to Westeros were things get a little crazy and personal. **

**I am going to try to update every Sunday, but we will see. I am not going to keep you here, so here is the next chapter,**

** hope you like it. **

* * *

**Chapter 2**

The Red God's Child

"WE ARE MARCHING ON THE WALL! In a fortnight we will gather near the south end of the Fist of the First Men. We march at sundown."

"SAVE YOUR BREATH. MY MEN AREN'T GOING TWO LICKS CLOSE TO THAT WALL, AND LAST TIME I CHECKED I DIDN'T TAKE ORDERDS FROM LORDLY THENNS!"

"IF WE DON'T MARCH ON THE WALL NOW, WHO IS TO SAY THAT THOSE MILKWORMS, ANTLERHEADS, AND CAVEPEOPLE WON'T BE AT OU R THROATS THIS COMING WINTER? PEOPLE ARE STARVING!"

"HEY?!"

"Not, your clan of course, Big Sam." I could feel Sam's disapproval from inside of the big tent. They had argued since we had returned, and my worry over what would happen to me had lessened a great deal. It had defused when the Thenns came.

"NOT MY PROBLEM!" screamed the Weeper, "TAKE YOUR FUCKEN PEOPLE OUT OF MY CAMP!" Bane covered his ears, and I followed in suite.

"WHAT DO YOU SAY CAVEMAN? DO YOUR PEOPLE MARCH?"

Big Sam sounded exhausted, "If push comes to shove, we will return to the Frostfangs I would rather freeze then take on the Wall again. I have had enough of following another man's crumbling dreams."

"THAT'S RIGHT EVEN THE CAVEPEOPLE DON'T WANT IN, AND THEY ARE THE MOST DESPERATE IN THIS FROZEN SHITHOLE!"

I looked up and my eyes caught with those of my savior. His visible skin was frostbitten and he was shivering in three coats of wolf belted skins. He scooted up to the fire as humanly possible, and he looked like he was debating to dive in the fire if only it would not scorch and smoke him to the bone.

As I am examining him he looked up, and I redirected my gaze at the tented ceiling. The skulls of small animals and rib bones were dangling off pieces of leather held no interest to me, but I pretended that they did.

His eyes stayed on me for a while. They say that the eyes are the passageways to the soul.

That you could tell what a person is really thinking by what their eyes told you. Then what are noses? What if someone didn't have a nose, did that mean that they had no soul. Did it mean anything? I stole glances at the man while ravenously biting into my burnt rabbit leg.

"Are you cold?"

I shook my head. Today was the worst day by far! I almost died of starvation, burning, and then drowning. How many ways can a a person be killed? I shuddered at the thought. The Gods must want me dead, after what happened today.

"Tell me if you get cold," mother whispered, and I nestled into her chest brushing away my frightening thoughts. The shouts outside from our Leaders had lowered, but we knew that their tempers could not be tamed any time soon.

Mother rubbed my shoulder to warm me up. I didn't need it, but it felt good just the same. It felt good to melt into her side, and hide away from prying eyes. I thought I was never going to return to my home. I had cried myself sore, ran into a blizzard, fell into a lake, and got saved by Thenns. I had returned unscathed, and that was something to feel thankful for.

"I am alright, mother," I took another bite savoring the meat on my tongue.

I had been saved from the mighty blizzard that struck only hours before.

I had been saved by this nose-less man, and his party of rogue Thenns. We hate Thenns, but not Marchers on the Wall. These Marchers consisted of mostly rogue Thenns sentenced to march due to going against their beliefs. It meant that they rejected their high society of lords, and lands. It meant that they chose to go against eating flesh in homage to their more god than man, **Magnar**. I had never seen a Thenn this close before, but what was there to see. They looked like us, spoke like us, but they were Thenn's and that meant dangerous.

He didn't even have a sword. What was he going to do, _scare me to death?_

"Stop staring Minisa," mother scolded me. I turned my head down, and then stared out the entrance to the big tent. I hated when people caught me staring, "it is rude to stare at our guest."

"Why should I care? It doesn't bother him," I told her. She pulled my ear for talking back to her. My ear burned and stung, but it put the message across. _Listen to what I say or less_, I gave Mom a grimace. It was still hurting.

My brothers laughed while Mother reprimanded me, I made a face at them. Bane gave another chuckle behind his hand. His brown hair and eyes were mirthful. He showed great relief after seeing me back safe, I had to remind him to keep his distance, but Baryon did not. Baryon still wouldn't sit near me, and it made me feel sad for this rift to come between us. Baryon and I used to be so close.

After what happened at the frozen lake I had even more questions. Why did the Thenns save me, and how did Baryon remain un-burned after touching my flames. I tried to get eye contact with him, but he just ignored me taking another bite out of the rabbit. My brothers were back to being my brothers. Though, I had not forgotten their faces earlier today. I did not know if I could.

The man who I was staring at gave me a friendly smile, "No, it's alright. Do you want to know how I got this chopped off," he pointed to the space where his nose should be. What occupied the space were two meaty holes that looked like an entrance to two adjacent caves.

"No," I was hungry and my mind was busy at the moment, "I care nothing of it." I had been hungry for a long time, and I was going to eat another leg right after this.

"Minisa!" Mother was disappointed, "that is no way to speak to the man that saved your life."

"No, offense is taken. She gave us a scare when she fell into the lake. But it would seem that she is already dry," the said man was still wet from the frozen lake. He had been the one to take me out when I fell through still on fire. The heat had unfrozen the lake, and I was surprised at how chilling the water still felt.

Though, not enough to freeze me to death.

He took the covers away from his mouth and graced us with his ugly face, "It's a good thing I didn't have to jump in. Only had to drag her out or I would have been a frozen man without a nose. What type of dead man would I have made? No one would have wanted to see me then," my brothers laughed again at him. The humor of the North; frozen dead things, it could not get better than that.

I smiled at his joke, but I remembered how he pulled me out by the hair, and I lost my humor. It was not rough, but it still hurt my scalp.

"When do you believe your leader will be done with Big Sam," Baryon said with his mouth full of rabbit innards. It was no wonder mother called him the prettiest of her children. He was so _handsome_ showing us his chewed food.

The voices outside were whispers now, "Well, the way our Commander Yerkes talks it might take days," he chuckled scratching his nose holes, "but you should not even get me started. That man can speak giantess, and he spoke to Crows, a bit of southern Westorosi which can't be all that difficult."

He got our attention with the latter. _Those nasty Wall Crows_, "Crows? You talk to Crows?" Big Sam would have his head for this.

"The best type of crows is a _dead ones_ my father always said. But Commander Yerkes said we question them, it's the only way you know their patterns. Then we killed them. After we chopped them to pieces for packaging, it saves us from too many hunting trips," I spit out the rabbit looking it over with cynical eyes. I sure hope I did not eat Crow; I did not have the stomach for it. I resumed eating; my stomach did not have much of a choice at the moment.

My brothers kept on eating, "Good riddance we hate Crows even more than Thenns. But you are good Thenns you give us rabbit. Does that mean you can stay," it was clear how hopeful Baryon sounded, "I mean if the blizzard keeps up."

It did not escape our notice the way his hopeful eyes stared at the packaged rabbit in the corner of the big tent. I did not blame him; I had never seen so much food in my entire life. I probably would never so much food accumulated for the rest of my life. I finished my leg quickly, and grabbed another stuffing it into my mouth ignoring my burnt tongue. I better get a head start, and stuff my belly as much as I could.

"We shall see, young one. Where my Commander sends me I go. It is him you will have to ask," that did not sound promising.

I took a bigger bite, "Slowly," mother reminded me, "you're going to get sick."

"It's alright; they can have as much as they want. They looked starved."

If I didn't know better I would think he was judging my mother. Mother thought the same, "It has been a harsh winter," was mother's response, "if I could feed them I would have. Our clan has barely enough food to feed the men let alone the children. Many do not make it past the first months."

He saw his error, "I meant nothing by it. I understand what it is to go starving. I believe all the North knows a bit of hunger. It is what keeps us going. My children also know hunger, my wife has troubles feeding them as well, and I don't know you much," mother's eyes softened, "but even if I did I would never say you would leave your children to starve."

Mother inclined her head, "I give my thanks."

"None are needed," he gave a smile, and then winked at my astounded face. I had yet to see any man be nice to Mamma. Unless he wanted something, I squinted my eyes at him. He was a Thenn, and Thenns could not be trusted. He was up to something, and I was going to find out what.

That would have to wait for the moment. The time of reckoning had begun.

Big Sam, the Thenn Rogue leader, his warriors, The Weeper, Davia, and the Healing Witch had returned. The space in the big tent suddenly felt a lot smaller, and I let the irritation show on my face. My brothers scooted over. They had to sit next to me due to the overcrowding need for more seats. I took Bane's hand soothing his trembling hand in my shaky one. We had to stick this out together.

"Be careful Bane," Baryon said snatching Bane's hand from mine.

I looked to my lap to see what was wrong, but I only found my palms. Well, that was uncalled for. I would never burn Bane. I was in control now. _Well,_ I think I am in control. My fingers clenched and my palm turned to a fist. It was no use, I tamed my breath not wanting another episode after this morning. The fire had yet to resurface, and I was not going to start letting it out now.

The Thenn leader banged his axe on his shield. He had two braids on his beard and I found attractive, though his eyes were not. They were cold and harsh as the winter glaciers, and just as blue. He was a person that demanded obedience. The crowd was silent. The attention focused on what he had to say.

He turned his attention to Mother then landing on me, "We have traveled from the Thenns to march upon the Wall. When we made it not two miles from your camp, you," the Thenn leader armed in iron steel thrust his axe inches from my eye, "are far from a normal Wilding girl, you burned two of my men, one load from the caravan, and a tent of the Rockfist clan. What do you have to say for yourself?" _Did he not see me on fire?_ Did he think I wanted that to happen? **_Thenns_**, big-headed brutes. They always stated the obvious.

My clan leader stepped in, "Watch where you point that," Big Sam took the ugly axe away from my eye, I was thankful that he said something unless I would have been blind. Big Sam's blackened rock swords hung lose around his hips, "if you keep doing that. Someone will lose an eye, by the end of this_ trial_."

His two braided pieces of beard jingled as his jaw let lose words, "We need to the fire girl to talk. Maybe she would if her family was not here," the Thenn Rogue Leader commanded my mother, "you— leave now."

Sam held back the Thenn from removing Mother his head touched with fire was the tallest in the big tent. It was no coincidence why he was the clan leader. He was brawn strength made man, "Jen of Oldstones is my clan," Big Sam said, "so are the boys. They have a right to be here. But you Thenns however," I nodded along with him, "We don't trust Thenns in these parts."

"_Southerners_," the Thenn looked hatefully at my mother, his lips pursed as if he had tasted something nasty, "what is a southern bitch doing so far North?"

"None of your concern," Big Sam's massive muscles twitched in an invitation.

"Is that so? The Magnar would not be pleased. If he knew of a southerner near his lands your head would be crow food." I huffed at him, and his eyes locked with mother, "What of it bitch? Got tired of those bastard kneelers, decided to take a turn with some Northern dick?" Mother grabbed onto me tightly, and I sneered at him. I dared him to try something. If he feared me now, wait till he saw me angry.

_Where was that from?_ I was never this violent. I needed a good nap after this.

"We need to stop this," spoke Davia. She was only ten years my senior and you can see by her trembling lip that she feared for us. I forgot she was even here, "if we keep fighting then we will achieve nothing."

She was slapped instantly, "Shut your trap this is no concern to you," the Weeper reprimanded her. Big Sam's jaw became rigid, and my brothers started yelling at him. Mother told them to stand down, "that right you little cunts. Listen to your mother if you know what is good for you." I bit my tongue in anger, "Davia is mine to do with as I see fit. What belongs to man is his to control, and his alone. If you don't like it get the fuck out!" There was no use fighting now, she had chosen her fate. She belonged to the Weeper now. She was going to get hit hard if she didn't keep her head down.

"Leave the girl alone," the Healing Witch stood at Davia's side, "she speaks the truth."

"What of it Witch? Are you going to have a say every time a woman gets a slap or child burns my camp? Well not in my clan! I will not need you if you step in between what is my business."

"_A witch_?" The Thenn leader spoke out, and the surprised us by bowing with two fingers to his head his anger to my mother forgotten, "let the Magnor protect you, and keep you."

I caught my mother's green eyes, and saw that she was still staying strong for us. I gripped her hand even harder.

The Witch came to the ring of the Wildling Leaders, "Yerkes son of Yan you are welcome. The Children give you many blessings," the Witch bowed, and I watched the exchange in fascination, "The First Men have always been welcome to Children of the Forest. That is if you are true children of the First Men, and not the murders of the Fallen Children."

The Thenn bowed in return, "We are, and those murderers of the South will receive justice if the true First Men have anything to say about it."

Her mouth opened wide revealing yellowed chipped teeth, "The Children smile upon your sacrifice, and will watch over you as go through the woods."

Her grin was unsettling. The Thenn looked as if the God's had shitted golden blocks for him, "Your blessing is well received," he bent his head in front of the Healing Witch.

It was a sight to see a man of high-caliber and lavish apparel bowing before a woman shorter than mother and older than anyone I had ever seen. We did not bow in the North, well that is why we called Thenns, _lordly_, and they were no true Wildings by our standards. Wildings never kneeled.

"My blessing is well deserved," she patted his head repeating a protection spell over him.

Big Sam face showed confusion his mouth gasping like a man submerging from water, "WHAT GIBBERISH ARE YOU SPEAKING!"

The Weeper looked beside himself ready to laugh in the Thenn's face, "Don't meddle Sam, their _Children of the Forest crap_ would only make your skull break with its own stupidity."

It would seem the Witch agreed, "You are very right Man of Many Tears. Stupidity is only understood by imbeciles. Maybe that is why you drown yourself with it instead of keeping your opinions to yourself," The Weeper pretended to punch the air around the Witch. The Thenn Leader Yerkes pulled out his sword, while Big Sam only laughed at the Weeper's antics, "wipe that smile off your face witch, before I fucken carve one in."

The Witch only smiled angering the Weeper even more, "We will have none of that now, Weeper son of None. Time for acting like boys is done for today. There are things to be lain to rest, before the day is dead and gone. Child claimed by fire," the witch hobbled over to me her staff brushed away my grimy blonde hair from my face.

"You have not been forgotten," I smiled back at her grin not wanting to upset the one person that was kind to me, "today has been a day of great transformation for you. You must have many questions," I complied by taking hold of her outstretched palm. I trusted in those that showed kindness to me. She had been the kindest and more welcoming to my own and I this winter. That could not be said for the superiority of the Thenns, the Weeper's abuse, and Big Sam's indifference to our suffering.

"Only one." My voice was so small it came out as a whisper.

"Speak it then," how simple she made things sound. As if speaking in front of a crowd of Thenns, angered Wildings, and the pissed off Weeper was a task of little to no pressure.

"What am I?" The question I had asked myself for the past hours, and was without a doubt twirling in the minds at attendance at the Weeper's big tent. The question that had brought me here, and possibly the one that would change everything forever. Now, here I was getting ahead of myself.

"That is a very good question, small one. But I believe the question is not _What_, but _Who?_ Minisa was it not. Well, Minisa I cannot answer that question," my spirit fell, "but I know one that can." She turned me around, and I was confused.

"Mother?"

"Yes," mother had tears going down her face. Today was an emotionally straining for us all, and I had never thought how so for my Mother, "I have waited a while for these things to be asked of me." She gave a shaky breathe, "Minisa, my baby. You are my special little girl. No matter what will be said, you will always be my special little girl," yes that I already knew, and the anticipation was killing me.

"What does she speak of?" The Weeper was shushed, and his face turned an unpleasant pink.

"On the day you were born," she breathed deeply, "I had lost a child of my own. It was a difficult time. I had been so far into my pregnancy that I hoped that I would have kept the babe, but the God's had other plans. Banred wanted the baby burned, but I would not have it. I went to the Frostfangs to bury my babe alone. I had rest my babe in the caves when I heard the wailing."

She was confusing me; she never spoke to me of a child that had died, "It was not the normal wailing of an animal. Nor was it the howl of the wind. It was human cry and it sounded in pain so I went to go see if I could give some aid. I should have known then so far from any civilization that this was no ordinary birthing wail. Banred had warned me from entering the western caves. He had warned me of the magic that lured the weary souls from the North and South for answers, and I should have listened."

She rubbed my hands, "I went into the cave. In the firelight I saw the biggest Wierwood known to man and its trunks grew out of the cave walls as if it was a part of the mountain itself. The wierwood carved face was hideous," my breath quickened, "its mouth hung big and open and its teeth were long and sharpened. It looked sickly, and I was afraid for the person at the base. The woman was swollen with child. I tried to make her speak to me, but I did not understand a word she spoke. No language I could understand came from her lips, but the meaning was enough. She birthed you in that cave, beneath a Wierwood tree, and a fire she had made was the only light to be seen."

This was going too fast. I needed a moment to take it all in, "My _mother_?"

"Yes, your mother. I still remember the scent of salt from the runes, and the smell of smoke filling the entire cave like mist you could not escape. I was so frightened for myself, and even more for the birthing mother. I tried to pull her out, but she would not leave. She was no ordinary woman. She had drawn red marks on the ground around the fire, at the base of the tree, and," she gulped, "on herself there was carved writing into her arms, and legs. She was bleeding all over; I tried to wipe off the blood. She scratched me with such a force I was sure that she had taken off my arm." Mother showed her scars on her arms I had always rubbed during the Night. I was horrified at the sight of them now.

"You were birthed all the same, and I thought she was going to finally be at rest. I had never been so wrong. She took out a knife," the crowd gasped, and my stomach plummeted.

"I battled with her, and between the fray she was stabbed with her own blade. Before I could do anything she fell into the mouth of the wierwood tree, and I saw no more of the woman with the marks on her legs and arms." _What? How, what_ happened to her? She didn't expand on that.

"I saved you from that polluted place, and we never went back. Banred and I took you in, and you are my child," I wrenched my hands from her; I did not feel like her child.

"No matter what you are, you are my special girl," I tore my gaze away from her pleading eyes. I could not take this anymore. It was as if everything I knew was a lie. No it was worse than that; everything I knew**_ is_** a lie, "I'm so sorry, I have kept this in for so long. I never thought of what it would mean taking a child from the wierwood tree. I never thought—"

"I would be Claimed by Fire," the words felt powerful on my tongue. I was claimed by something, and it felt comforting to know that it was not the god's, but my birth that released this combustion from within me. It was easier to know that this was not my fault.

But this was still happening to me, even if I had no part in stopping it.

The Witch steadied me. My face grew red with all the attention. One of my most revealing moments of my life was on display for everyone to watch. I was in no way happy about that, "Your question is now answered. Now is the time of truth." I was not ready to hear another thing about me. I was not sure if I could take it.

"You have grown much today, and if Gods are good you will grow even more with their help. Men, the Others, the Children, all abide by the laws the earth we call our own. Powers greater than those we could comprehend work all around us, some with us, and others against. Long has it been foretold of the one that will be born of among salt and smoke. The one promised to end this reckoning on Man set forth by the spirits. I believe I will not need to repeat the tale of the Song of Ice and Fire." _A Song of Ice and Fire? _There was a mummer among the crowd, and the words _Fire_ sent a shiver through my body.

_"__What is that?"_ asked Bane my youngest brother.

"I stand wrong, how can the young ones know of the prophecy. The Song of Ice and Fire still is a mystery not only to you, child," she touched Bane's cheek, "but to us all. The song is only known in whole by a few, but told to all young and old. Those in the land of sun as well as the land of cold know of the tale. The meaning is understood, but the precise words remain a mystery," it would seem so would a many other great things, "it is said that the promised one will be born of salt and smoke, and will stop the Others from returning."

"The Others?"

"The White Walkers," she exclaimed, and the crowd went silent, and then exalted in excited whispers. My face went blank, _White Walkers?_ They were known as the frozen undead that would one day rise from the sea of snow, and snuff out the warmth of us all. Yes, I had heard of White Walkers, and feared the name as it should be feared. I had never seen one, and hoped I never would. To see one was an omen of death if there ever was.

"You believe it is this girl," The Thenn had been analyzing me this entire time, sizing me up as if I was a piece of hanging meat, "a girl not even a woman that will save us from the apocalypse of cold. I do not believe you are taking us for fools, but this is surely a jest. She could have died today, and what our Promised One then, she would have died, and so would our salvation?"

"I do not believe it is her," the Witch took my shoulder, "I know it is her. Long have we awaited for her, and now the time has come. She must leave to Hardhome immediately if she is to be trailed."

I felt sick in my stomach, but it was not with fear, _"Trialed?"_

"By the Children of the Forest, child. Who else do you think are going to do it? Deary your story has only begun. There is no time to waste."

I felt my spirit soar at her words. All this promise, and to me who was practically a no one. How could one day change so much?

"It is not her. It cannot be. The Promised one cannot be female," we turned to the voice, "it was foretold that it can only be a male of royal dragon blood. The blood of the Targaryen line was told to give birth to the Promised One. It was foretold from an actual descendent of the Child of the Wood. I was there," mother gulped admitting her southern roots, "that day it was told in King's Landing. It was the reason my husband was killed, who would now best than I."

_"__Who was your husband?"_

"That is not what is being pursued here," Mother told the Weeper.

"Who was your husband, Jen of Oldstones," Big Sam asked of her.

"I would rather not say."

"Your clan leader commands it," the Weeper said snidely, and the Thenn joined in, "you should be used to being _told_ what to do by now." I felt the tingling vibrate on my skin of my arm, and reach my fingers. I protected my own.

"She is on fire again," the Witch informed Big Sam. I looked down, and surely my whole arm was on fire. I was led out to submerge it in snow, and only until it stopped was I allowed to return.

Mother was in tears when I opened the flap. I ran to her.

Mother grabbed my other hand and I recoiled remembering what led me to leave. Even if I was angry with her lying I was more afraid to hurt her, "If you will end this now. If you end all this questioning, then I will tell you. I knew him by Duncan, but he was once a Prince, and he was supposed to ascend. It was his love for me that killed him, and so has led to the King that sits on his throne."

"Duncan the Small," the Witch muttered, "I heard this name in passing on my travels to Whitetree near the Wall. The Prince of Dragonflies, yes the story was made into a song."

"Give me peace," mother shrieked, "this meeting is for my daughter, not for the shadows of my past."

The Witch took me to stand in front of the man with blue eyes, and braided beard, "Yes, she will travel with the Thenn Company, and then will be spirited to Hardhome. I presume that would not be a task too difficult to you Commander Yerkes?"

Commander Yerkes grew aware that his Thenn men looked to his answer. He said his words carefully, "Why would I spirit her away. I am under strict orders of the Magnar that cannot be deviated under whatever circumstances. Just because some Southern wannabe Wildling bitch pup burst into flame does not mean that she would be of any importance to me. My time is too precious to deal with this Cavepeople filth."

There was an uproar from the Cavepeople, but Big Sam calmed them down. I bit my tongue in anger. I really really didn't like that Thenn leader. If I was Big Sam I would have bashed his head in already.

During the chaos the witch yelled, "What if she is the daughter of R'hollor, the daughter of the Red God," she said. The _Red God_, was my father? _What nonsense is this?_

She took my shoulders, she was slightly taller than I, "She is fire made flesh. She even bears the markings, if you look into her eyes. Can you not see the fire ember that is spreading, and will soon take her as she is claimed by fire? If you know the Magnar then you will have seen these eyes before."

The Thenn leader bent down to look into my eye. I stared into his blue iris, and shrunken black dot that was fixated so strongly on mine that I was tempted to shove his brute face away. He smelled of sweat, and musk, and it frightened me, but I dare not show it. In the North you were strong, and I was still a Wilding no matter if I was on fire, or blue in the snow. I was a Wilding and I would die a Wilding.

His face went rigid and he took a hold of my chin, "Don't move."

"Look closely Yerkes of the Thenns, and see with your own eyes. Do you see the _resemblance_?"

He finally saw what he was looking for, "Impossible, this is surely impossible."

"Impossibility some would call it, but these are savage lands. There have been no bounds here in the North since the beginning of time. Not here in the land of Gods and Monsters."

A group of Thenns and Wildlings fled from the big tent as the blizzard stormed against the skinned walls. The prickly cold wind blew into the tent blowing out the lights but the Witch continued, "On the eve of the Red Star the Red God walks among man, and only in the North can he roam for it is only here that harbors the Magic of Old that will be his prison and his domain. The same for the Greenseers, the Children, the Others, and all those of magic alike, until the Wall falls again."

The Thenn leader was enraptured as she continued, "You worship the Red God do you not? Do the Thenns not abide by R'hollor first, and then the Magnar second."

He shifted in his armor, "Yes it is true."

"If the blood of R'hollor would ask of you to take her would you?"

I watched this Commander Yerkes son of Yan alternate his hard gaze to mine. I flinched upon impact, "If she would command me," my mother burst into tears, "then I would do so."

"Go on, little one tell him." I surge of power filled within me. This was crossroads in my life, and I felt that during the entire conversation I was in silent contemplation trying to decipher the consequences of choosing to leave, and leaving my loved one's behind. I had so many questions, and I knew that none of them could be answered here. Of course there was that mortal fear of leaving everything I knew to join these men that could rape me and leave me for death, but I was not the same girl I was this morning.

"I wish for you to take me to Hardhome."

"Then I will take you to Hardhome," he gave a mock bow to me, but it made the point. I was under his control now.

"Follow him young one, they are to be like yours now. In Hardhome your doubt will soon be answered. I will see you off before you leave in the morning."

"We leave in a few hours," he said to the Witch, "there is no time to delay."

"Then you know what must be done," she shoved me towards the stranger Thenn and I never felt so vulnerable before. As if, I would be ripped to pieces by dogs by joining the Thenns and leaving my family behind. Mother was crying the tears I could not shed. I was more of a frightened rabbit, and rabbits were only used for one purpose and one purpose only.

"Come along with me," he pushed me outside into the blizzard, and I turned looking at Mother, and my brothers. Mother had her eyes closed while holding both of my brothers to her chest. There would be no goodbyes.

_What was I going to do now?_ The blizzard wind slapped me in the face as I went outside, and kept slapping me as I trudged toward the Thenn caravan. I had nothing to my name, no worth, no ties, or no true family. I felt the cord being tugged and tugged as I went farther and farther from mother. I couldn't take it. I took two steps and I threw up everything I had eaten. I knew I should have listened to mother.

The Thenn Commander picked me up giving me a slap on the bum, "Keep going," how could we move in the ice so fast. I tried walking in the steps he made, but instead I just tripped over my feet. I couldn't walk in this. Two Thenns helped me trudge through the snow, while my Thenn savior with no nose decided to tag along with me.

I tripped once more this time getting ice in my ear.

My Thenn savior chuckled at my side, "Here I stole this for you," he gave me piece of rabbit and I hurled again. "Better save this for latter then," he put it in his cloak for safekeeping.

My mouth tasted foul, I was hungry again, and my legs were frozen solid, "The names Hackett," he told me as he put me on the caravan of weapons, "and you are?"

I did not answer him. My internal monologue was set on moping.

Someone slapped the side of the caravan, "Do not burn another caravan, girl," The Commander commanded me as he passed by, "and don't go running away or you will not like what I will have to do." He made no stop for a reply and headed to the front to speak with to a large mass of Thenns in the front. I put my head underneath the wolf pelt, and closed my eyes. Maybe then I would be able to cry.

Someone slipped it off, "Minnie?"

"_You came,"_ my voice shook with happiness, "but where is mother?"

There were my brothers, and the Witch, but where my mother should be she was not.

The Witch nudged me off the caravan, "Say goodbye to your brothers," I got down from the caravan and engulfed my brothers in a tight hug. I kissed each of cheeks remembering how young they both looked, how they smelled like our tent, and felt so warm to my cold limbs. This is what true love was.

"I will return," I promised them, "I promise."

"You better," Bane sniffled. I wiped the cheeks of my little brother making sure the grim got off. He needed someone to look after him. Mother would have just him to keep watch over now.

I couldn't make out what Baryon was thinking. He is the brother that I looked more like, with our lighter hair, and fairer features, but times like these we were never more different. I felt guilt looking at him, "Baryon I am sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen. If I could change anything I would have never have—

"It doesn't matter Mini," he hugged me again.

"Take care of Bane and Mother," I told him.

"I promise," he said.

"LET'S GO YOU SONS OF WHORES! TIME TO GET MOVING!"

_This was it. _

"YOU HEARD THE COMMANDER GET YOUR FREEZING ASSES MOVING! THAT MEANS YOU LORS YOU LAZY PIECE OF SHIT."

A voice spoke in my ear, "Time to go, Firestarter."

Hackett lifted me on the caravan. Baryon pulled Bane to him, and they both waved me off as we trudged away from our valley at the base of the Frostfangs. The Thenns stepping in disarray were still a solid force of meat and bone while I sat on a pile of weapons. I was able to look back as I left. I watched my brothers get smaller, smaller, and smaller until they were specks in my vision. My brothers standing next to a Witch that believed that I was the Promised One.

I grew sad for not seeing my mother one last time before I left, but it gave me more incentive to return quicker. I knew that it would not be forever. I would not have to stay in Hardhome no more than a few weeks. _A few weeks aren't so bad_ I told myself. There were so many men among us that I could not even count them all, and I knew that I would be safe from attacks from other Wilding Clans.

The excitement for adventure set in, and I knew that this was going to be one hell of a ride? If only… I knew where we were going.

* * *

**I am making a poll here, to see which of these you would want our company of Marchers to the Wall to encounter.**

**White Walkers**

**Wildlings**

**Giants **

**You choose! **

**Alrighy i hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Be safe, and see you next week~~  
beachchick3 **


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